PHILADELPHIA – When Monmouth University trekked down to Lawrenceville on Jan. 12 to take on Rider, Josh James missed his third straight game after suffering a sprained left big toe at Canisius 10 days earlier.

In the span between Canisus and Rider, the 6-foot-2 sophomore was in a walking boot and did not participate in practice. As the postgame scene at Rider turned to James' health, Hawks head coach King Rice did not paint a positive outlook.

"The crazy thing is, nobody is talking to me about Josh playing any time soon," Rice said that night. "I'm not one of those guys who tries and fakes you out, I wish Josh was playing. He's still in the boot and every day I see him, it looks like he's walking worse."

That was nine days ago, and nothing has changed.

James missed his sixth straight game on Wednesday night when Monmouth took a break from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference to take on the University of Pennsylvania at the Palestra. James is still in that walking boot and a guess as to when he might return to practice is just that.

Missing James has put a dent in how Monmouth tries to operate, especially on defense, but the saving grace is that the Hawks have depth. With James out, senior tri-captain Max DiLeo has started the last five games and he has responded. The Cinnaminson native is averaging 9.2 points and 4.0 rebounds over his last five contests. Both statistics are well-above his season-averages of 5.4 points 2.3 rebounds per game. DiLeo was coming off a career-high 19 points and an 11-for-12 effort at the foul line in a 77-70 win over Fairfield on Sunday.

With an increased role comes increased floor time as DiLeo is averaging 32 minutes per game since James went down. He hadn't cracked 29 minutes in a game this season until he played 32 against Quinnipiac on Jan. 9.

Before the injury, James acted as an ace defender for Monmouth, regularly opening games by guarding the opponent's top perimeter thread. James was asked to defend Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year Juwan Staten in the season-opener at West Virginia, Maryland freshman sensation Melo Trimble, Southern Methodist star guard Nic Moore and Rutgers senior point guard Myles Mack.

Offensively, James has struggled at times, averaging just 4.8 points on 31.9 percent shooting and 33.3 percent from 3-point range. He showed signs of getting himself on track before the injury, specifically on Dec. 28 against Rutgers when he scored nine points on 3-for-4 shooting to go along with seven rebounds in 30 minutes.

As a freshman last season, James learned the point guard position for the first time. When classmate Justin Robinson was shelved late in the season with a stress fracture in his right foot, James stepped up. Over Monmouth's last six games of 2013-14, James averaged 10.5 points on 47.8 percent shooting and 4.3 assists per game. For the year, he averaged 8.4 points on 43 percent shooting.

After the strong finish to last season, James joined Robinson to form Rice's starting backcourt. Robinson is the natural point guard when they're in the game together, but James has been free to push the ball up the floor if and when an outlet pass is thrown his way.